UAE salaries expected to grow 4.8% in 2015, behind Saudi Arabia and Oman

Employees across the UAE can expect an average salary increase of 4.8% next year, behind those in Saudi Arabia, according to a new survey by global talent research firm Aon Hewitt.

This figure is slightly down from previous years – 5.1% in 2014 and 5% in 2013 - suggesting that companies might be more conservative with their budgets, the report said. In 2014, UAE employees were given an increase of 4.6% on average, slightly below the original projection.

Aon Hewitt said employees should not be discouraged by the lower projections.

“The latest figures show that corporates continue to show confidence in the 2015 economic outlook despite the slightly lower predictions made for the year ahead. It is normal procedure for companies to rethink their salary projections on an annual basis and the latest figure shouldn’t be a cause for concern for employees,” Robert Richter, Compensation Survey Manager, said.

The numbers were released as part of the firm’s annual Global Salary Increase Survey 2014, which looks at over 500 companies across the Middle East, including 177 in the UAE.

Across the GCC, companies are predicting an average salary increase of 5.1% for 2015, a figure slightly down from predictions made for 2014, which was set at 5.5%, indicating a similar approach has been taken across the region.

Oman and Saudi Arabia will see the highest salary increase at 5.4% each, while Bahrain gave the lowest salary increase projection at 4.5%, followed by Qatar at 5.2% and Kuwait at 5.3%.